Cosmid vector

This cloning vector lecture explains the use of cosmid vector in DNA cloning. http://shomusbiology.weebly.com/ Download the study materials here- http://shomusbiology.weebly.com/bio-materials.html A cosmid, first described by Collins and Hohn in 1978, is a type of hybrid plasmid (often used as a cloning vector) that contains a Lambda phage cos sequence. Cosmids’ (cos sites + plasmid = cosmid) DNA sequences are originally from the lambda phage. Cosmids can be used to build genomic libraries. Cosmids can contain 37 to 52 (normally 45) kb of DNA, while normal plasmids are able to carry only 1–20 kb. They can replicate as plasmids if they have a suitable origin of replication: for example SV40 ori in mammalian cells, ColE1 ori for double-stranded DNA replication or f1 ori for single-stranded DNA replication in prokaryotes. They frequently also contain a gene for selection such as antibiotic resistance, so that the transfected cells can be identified by plating on a medium containing the antibiotic. Those cells which did not take up the cosmid would be unable to grow.

Unlike plasmids, they can also be packaged in phage capsids, which allows the foreign genes to be transferred into or between cells by transduction. Plasmids become unstable after a certain amount of DNA has been inserted into them, because their increased size is more conducive to recombination. To circumvent this, phage transduction is used instead. This is made possible by the cohesive ends, also known as cos sites. In this way, they are similar to using the lambda phage as a vector, but only that all the lambda genes have been deleted with the exception of the cos sequence. Source of the article published in description is Wikipedia. I am sharing their material. Copyright by original content developers of Wikipedia. Link- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page